TV host may help move Israel to the center

JERUSALEM With his good looks and suave manner, Yair Lapid had long been a celebrity and symbol of success here, building a strong following as a feisty journalist and the host of a popular television show.

But by the time the polls closed here Tuesday, it was clear that Lapid had reinvented himself as one of the most powerful political leaders in the country, leveraging his celebrity and a resonant populist message.

Lapid, 49, was the surprise of the election. His party placed second, when polls said it would come in fourth. He had predicted he would do better with his outreach to the middle class and his emphasis on social justice and the rising inequalities in society. He was right. His Yesh Atid Party won 18 or 19 seats, according to exit polls, positioning him as chief power broker in forming the next ruling coalition.

Though little known abroad, for many here, Lapid was a quintessential Israeli. His father was a Holocaust survivor who went on to serve as justice minister. His mother was a well-known novelist. A year ago, when he quit television to enter politics, he set himself the mission of representing the struggling middle class, an oft-neglected constituency. As the author of a popular column in the newspaper Yediot Aharonot, he wrote under a title that became his catchphrase: “Where's the money?”

This is the big question asked by the middle class, he wrote. “Why is it that the productive sector, which pays taxes, fulfills its duties, performs reserve service and carries the entire country on its back, doesn't see the money?”

Lapid harnessed the frustration of hundreds of thousands of Israelis who took to the streets in the social-justice protests of the summer of 2011. When he founded Yesh Atid (There is a Future) the next spring, he adopted and sharpened their demands for a more equal sharing of the burden, meaning an end to automatic military exemptions for thousands of ultra-Orthodox students who opt for full-time Torah study, as well as demands for better public education and an end to rising taxes that choke the working population.

On the peace process with the Palestinians, Lapid has presented safe positions within the consensus: He says that he favors negotiations for a Palestinian state while retaining the large West Bank settlement blocs under Israeli control, and he opposes any division of Jerusalem.

Netanyahu himself has only grudgingly voiced conditional support for a Palestinian state, and his own party is dominated by hard-liners who oppose even this. A likely partner in a right-leaning coalition, Naftali Bennett of the Jewish Home Party, has called for annexing large parts of the West Bank, the core of any future Palestinian state. His party won 12 seats.

Palestinians viewed the election results grimly, seeing it as entrenching a government intent on building settlements on West Bank land they want for a future state of their own.

“Even if Netanyahu brings some center-left parties to his coalition, he will continue building in the settlements, he said that clearly and that is what we expect him to do,” said Mohammed Shtayeh, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.